Last week, the Federal Emergency Management Agency denied the state’s request for federal assistance — a need estimated at around $9 million in grants and low-interest loans for repairs and temporary housing, among other things.

A massive EF-4 tornado struck on Feb. 29, killing seven people while demolishing scores of buildings and damaging a medical center.

Quinn said the appeal, which was supported by Sens. Dick Durbin and Mark Kirk and other federal and local officials, included additional information about the tornado’s damage and the socioeconomic status of the affected areas.

As officials continued totaling the damage after the state’s initial request, they learned that 440 homes had been damaged or destroyed in Gallatin, Randolph, Saline, Union and Williamson counties, according to a damage assessment by state and federal agencies.

“[Agency officials] don’t realize the severity of the damage,” said Quinn, adding that he hopes to receive a determination on the appeal “as soon as possible.”

Quinn said the most damaged areas, Harrisburg and Ridgway, are also among the most economically challenged in Illinois.

“For some, a full recovery may be impossible unless they receive the grant and low-interest loans that are only available through a federal disaster declaration,” Quinn said.

FEMA’s denial letter said that the damage to the southern Illinois counties “was not of such severity and magnitude as to be beyond the capabilities of the state, affected local governments and voluntary agencies,” said Patti Thompson, communications manager at the Illinois Emergency Management Agency.

“We’re certainly doing everything we possibly can [to help the affected areas],” Thompson said, but added that there is no disaster aid program similar to FEMA on the state level.

In addition to Illinois, FEMA denied aid to Ohio and Missouri but approved requests from Kentucky and Indiana, all of which were struck by tornadoes in late February and early March.

Quinn noted that he successfully appealed a denial of federal assistance in 2008 after flooding damaged hundreds of homes in Iroquois and Livingston counties.

Eight people were killed and 100 injured in downstate Harrisburg when a severe pre-dawn storm pounded southern Illinois. At least 16 tornadoes were reported from Nebraska and Kansas across southern Missouri to Illinois and Kentucky, according to the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma.

A burst of thunderstorm activity across the Chicago-area in mid-afternoon Sunday led to the collapse of a dome in northwest suburban Rosemont and the temporary evacuation of the music festival Lollapalooza in Grant Park downtown.